iPod Tag Challenge
by strawberriesxpizza
Summary: I don't think I was tagged, but I wanted to do it anyway. Enjoy!


**Here's my iPod tag challenge! I'm not gonna post them all in one entry because my shuffle treated me well, so I'm gonna do more than ten! My drabbles are long haha.  
**

**Lovebug by Jonas Brothers**

**--**

"Argh!"**  
**

Troy sighed as he lay in his bedroom around 10:30 at night opening and shutting his phone mindlessly with his right hand. He was contemplating whether of not to finally call Gabriella. They had their very first date almost three days ago. He took her to the carnival that Albuquerque held every year. and he still hadn't called. From what he'd learned from his less-than-romance-savvy best friend Chad, the countless magazines that he snuck in his sister's room to read in order to keep himself up to par on dating, it didn't help at all. He read to call the same night of the date, after taking her home. That idea was obviously thrown out the window. Another explanation said to wait a week.

_A week? If I wait that long, then she'll think I've moved on and that I wasn't interested. If she thinks that, that damn prick Lance Henrie will have moved in on her and I can't let that happen. _He thought.

Troy Bolton didn't understand much. He didn't understand the simplest things, like why one had to take a shower everyday, or why he had to take geometry. He also didn't understand why he idea of entering seven simple numbers telephonically to get passed through to her phone line was nerve-wracking. After letting out another deep sigh, an idea soon came into his head. He rose frantically off the bed and held up a finger in the air, with a look of determination.

_I'll just see what they say on Yahoo! Answers. They never let me down._ He thought. He raced across the room to his oak wood desk and flipped open his laptop. He quickly pressed the small gray button with a crescent-moon symbol above it to take it off of 'sleep mode'. He opened his Mozilla Firefox browser and quickly typed the URL to take him to his destination.

"How soon should you call a girl after a first date?" He read aloud as he typed. He pressed the 'enter' key on his keyboard and tapped his fingers on the desk as the monitor slowly, but surely changed to a different screen. The slow pace of his Internet connection caused him to doze off a little. The loud chime of a familiar alert awoke him. He rubbed his eyes to get the tiredness out of them when he realized that he was getting an instant message. He searched his screen hoping to see something even remotely relevant to Gabriella's name, but was met with the name of his friend Chad. He rolled his eyes as he read the screen before him.

**hoops08 says:**

Sup?

Troy laughed at the message because that was how Chad greeted almost everyone. He managed to include it whether the greeting was informal, or formal, like when he met Taylor's parents for the first time; although it earned him a puzzled look from her parents and a bruise on his arm that following Monday. Not wanting to lose focus of his initial mission, he quickly set his status to away and watched Chad log off. He let out a sigh of relief before he got back to his task. He scrolled down the page slowly before he came to an answer. He read it aloud to himself.

_"If the date went very well, she is probably thinking of you when she wakes, and wondering if you will call again, call her...life is short enjoy."_

He smiled to himself when he saw that voters selected this as the best answer. He scrolled more to see if there were any other plausible answers. Seeing that there weren't, he put his computer back onto 'sleep mode' before he went back to his bed.

He plopped back down on the mattress, clutching the phone into his hand. He let his mind wander to the events of the date and his preparation as he lay back and closed his eyes.

_Flashback_

"Troy, honey, you look fine." His mother and sister, Adriane, reassured him as his mom used her hands to fix the wrinkles in his blue-striped collared shirt.** (A/N: Just think of his outfit at the beginning of HSM 2.)**

"Are you sure, Mom? I don't want to overdo anything, and I don't want to try to outdo her, because it's not even like she would have _try_ to outdo me, because she's beautiful no matter what she's got on; but it's not like it's a competition between us or any--"

"Troy!" His mother and sister screamed, startling both themselves and Troy before they all calmed down. "You're rambling again." His mother reprimanded in a soft voice.

"Sorry, I just can't help it. It's just..it's Gabriella..I mean she's amazing in every way, shape, and form. And I want to make this date as great as I possibly can." He rambled some more.

"It _is_ the least you could do, you took forever to even _get the courage_ to ask her out." Adriane said, as she rolled her eyes crossing her arms over her chest. Troy glared at her with his piercing cobalt eyes.

"Adriane, you hush." His mother scolded as he stuck his tongue out at his sister as she sat down on the couch. His mother caught this and smacked him on the cheek.

"Did you just smack me?" Troy asked, taken aback by his mother's actions.

"No, dear," she said fixing his collar. "Just think of it as me...high-fiving your face." She joked. "Now, just because you're a junior, doesn't mean rules or your curfew don't apply. I want you home by 10:00 sharp and no exceptions. Don't throw me a lame excuse, that you lost track of time staring into her beautiful eyes or some crap like that."

Troy gaped. "Ten o'clock? We'll barely get to do anything at the carnival!"

"My point exactly. I can't have you taking away her innocence, you know."

"Mom!"

"I'm_ only_ joking, Troy, calm down. This must be more serious than you thought. She said as she walked into the nearby kitchen with Troy following behind, ready to explain himself. "But I do want you home by 11:15." She said as she reached into the refrigerator.

"12:00."

"11:15."

"11:45!"

"11:30 or no date."

Troy sighed in defeat.

"I've never seen _you_, out of all people, so tense for a date."

"Well, this is her first date, I think. And I want to make this special for her. I have to make this date as awesometastic as humanly possible." Troy kept walking until he stopped dead in his tracks. "Did I just say _awesometastic_?" He asked as he stared intently as his mother.

"Yes, dear." She replied nonchalantly.

"I'm rambling again, aren't I?" He said, running his hand through his disheveled hair.

"Yes, dear. Now you need to go and pick her up, don't you keep that lovely girl waiting. Don't forget 11:15."

"Yeah, sure Mom, I'll see you later." He said, ignoring her comment and pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. He darted from the kitchen and into the living room, taking his mother's suggestion to heart about not keeping her waiting. He jogged a little faster until his journey was cut short when he stumbled over his sister's outstretched foot. She tossed him a hateful glare. He thought of payback, but his mother was standing and watching from the kitchen entrance.

"Keep it up, you two, and I'll make sure neither of you date, let alone leave this house until you're both forty." She warned, walking back into the kitchen.

--

After 15 or odd minutes, his raggedy truck finally pulled up to Gabriella's driveway. He raised his hand to honk the horn, but stopped because it was deemed disrespectful. He exited his car and took a breath before grabbing the flowers he bought and going up to ring the doorbell. He rang the doorbell once. No reply.

Twice. Still no reply. He raised his hand to ring it once more before the door opened. His eyes averted to see Gabriella's mother's sweet expression being tossed his way.

"I'm sorry she's keeping you waiting, she's still putting on the 'finishing touches' on her appearance. Won't you come in and sit down?" She invited him into her home. "Let me take these, and I'll put them in some water. For Gabriella, I'm assuming?"

"Well..yeah..but I can throw them away if you don't approve!" He said, panicking and reaching for the flowers.

"Don't be silly Troy, I'm fine with them, I was just joking. You can take a seat on the couch until she comes down."

_Why's everyone in such a 'joking' mood?_ He thought as he sat on the couch. He basked in the sweet smell of cookies as they flowed from the kitchen into their living room until he was snapped out of his thoughts by a voice.

"Who are you?" A particularly snooty, but squeaky voice asked. He looked for the voice but couldn't find it until he looked down and saw a small tot, probably the age of five, at his feet with a hand on her hip and a doll in her other one with her head cocked to the side.

"I'm Troy." He said with a smile, holding his hand out for her small one to shake. She saw his hand and frowned.

"Your hand's really big." She said, flaring her nostrils. "Now, weird big-handed stranger person, who are you?"

"Isabella!" Gabriella's mom screamed from the kitchen. She quickly came in and swooped Isabella off the ground. "Please forgive her, this is her younger sister, Izzy. She's five, going on fifty. Say hi, Izzy."

"I did."

Her mother glared at her. "Say hi, the right way, Izzy."

"Hi, mister." She said pouting.

"This is Troy, and he's here to take Gabriella out on a date."

"A date? What's that?" She asked, wrinkling her nose in curiosity.

"It's a thing where two friends go out and have a good time together." Troy smiled at her explanation of a date.

"Can you put me down, I need to ask him something!" Izzy demanded, squirming to get out of her mother's grasp. Ms. Montez finally put her firmly on the ground and she jumped up on the couch next to him.

"Where are you taking my sister?" She said, crossing her arms.

"I'm..uhh..taking her to the carnival tonight."

"Ooh, the carnival! _Mami_, can I go too?" She asked, enthused.

"Do you not remember me explaining what a date is, _mi hija_?"

"Sure! You said it's when two friends go out and have a good time."

"And how many people would that be?"

"It'd be two! Me and Troy are friends Mommy, duh!" Troy's eyes widened in shock.

"No, it'd be three, because he's taking Gabriella and I'm not letting you tag along, you're too young."

"I'll be six in three months! I'm almost a woman!" She pouted, putting her head down.

Ms. Montez giggled as she picked her daughter up off the couch. "Maybe I'll let you go, when you're older. Much, _much _older. Your mouth is way ahead of you by some years."

"What?! The carnival will be over by then!"

"You shush, Isabella." Her mother reprimanded as she walked over to the stairs. "Gabriella Montez! Troy's here." She yelled up the stairs.

"I know, Mom, I'm com--aah!" All of them downstairs cringed as Gabriella let out a blood-curdling scream.

"What is it, honey?"

"Mom, I can't go out looking like this!"

Her mother sighed exasperatedly as she put Isabella down. "I'm sorry, Troy, let me go see what's wrong with her. And Isabella, no more questions, you leave him alone."

"Oh, she's no problem." Troy reassured her. Ms. Montez gave her youngest daughter one last glare before running upstairs.

"So, Troy." Isabella said, ignoring her mother's orders and jumping back into her spot on the couch. "Why are you taking Gabriella out?"

"Well," Troy stammered as he searched for an age-appropriate answer. "Because I want to. I mean I really like your sister and--"

"Blah, blah, blah, no more mushy stuff." Isabella said. "Wow, your eyes are really pretty!" She said, pulling apart his eyelids with her tiny hands. "They're like big blue oceans!" She exclaimed before letting go of his eyes. "Do you want to know a secret?" She whispered, making sure no one heard her.

"Um, sure." He said hesitantly.

"Gabriella always _stinks! _And I mean _always_. She always has on some lotion that smells like some kind of fruit. Like mangoes or cucumber melon stuff. And I hate mangoes, don't you?" Troy chuckled slightly before thinking back to how right her sister was. He thought about the smell that he loved whenever she was near him and about how he always lingered in the essence of it when she walked away.

"Ew!" She screamed in disgust before lowering her voice again. "Anyways, can I tell you something else?" She continued.

"How about you tell me why you're doing exactly what I told you not to do?" Her mother's voice boomed as the two of them on the couch both jumped in fear. "Go to your room, Isabella Marie, now."

Isabella rolled her eyes. "Sorry Troy, I'll see you later." She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck in a hug that Troy was reluctant to return, and finally doing so by giving her a small pat on the back.

"I said _now_." Her mother commented yet again. She hopped off the couch and went into her room. "Please forgive her," her mother continued. "she's rather.._smart_..for her age. Gabriella will be down in a minute, I promise. When's your curfew?"

"11:30, ma'am."

"Oh, don't call me 'ma'am'. It makes me feel old. Call me Maria."

"Oh, o-okay. It's 11:30, Maria." He said hesitantly.

"Good. Have her home by 11:20. You two kids have a good time." He nodded in agreement as her gaze averted to the stairs. "It's about time someone showed up for her date." Her mother said as she walked back into the kitchen, taking a look at Troy's amazed expression and smiling.

"Wow, you look radiant." Troy asked, standing up giving himself a once-over of his attire.

"Thank you." Gabriella said blushing."

"You ready to go?"

"Um..sure, just let me grab my purse and let's go before my mother comes running out with her camera." She raced frantically to the love seat to retrieve her bag and was stopped dead in her tracks by her mother's voice.

"Wait! Just let me get _one_ picture!"

--

After suffering through taking about 10 (or a million, from Gabriella's perspective) pictures, they had finally arrived at the carnival. They'd been enjoying themselves for quite a while, going through the variety of different booths, winning Gabriella a huge stuffed beaar that she adored, to his pleasure. He'd even encouraged her into conquering her fear of heights, taking her onto the ferris wheel. They indulged in tons of cotton candy, funnel cakes and crepes loaded with toppings, corn dogs, and fountain drinks. It began to take a toll on them when Troy suggested that they go on a more calm ride, settling for the merry go round. They both settled onto their Disney themed horse rides before the ride took off.

"You sure are enjoying that drink, aren't you?" He asked as he watched her try to get every last bit of the remnants of the drink.

"It's interesting," she giggled before continuing to sip. "I like it." She said smiling at him.

"So, what's your favorite thing you've eaten so far?" He asked, trying his best to make small talk.

"Oh, I don't know, that hot dog with the peppers and onions, that was _really _good." She said, twiddling her fingers, showing that she saw just as nervous as he was.

"Hey, I told you so." He said, laughing and nudging her arm slightly. At this, she suddenly became less tense and relaxed more, hoping for him to touch her in even the slightest ways once more. The ride took off as they continued their conversation. When it was over, they decided to ride again. Everything seemed to be going fine when Gabriella started to feel uneasy.

"Maybe these seats weren't such a great idea." She said, clutching her stomach as she doubled over in pain, whimpering slightly. Troy looked on with a nervous expression as he rubbed her hand up and down her back, sending tingles into her stomach; making the situation worse.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I-I like these, I mean anyone can just sit on a horse, right?" He said, trying to reassure her as he kept rubbing. She looked up and smiled at him sweetly as she slowly and timidly leaned into him more and more with each second. He leaned into her too when he saw her eyes widen right before he closed in. He watched, scared, as she quickly turned to the other side, preparing for the worst.

And then it happened. She blew chunks on the side of their seats and Troy cringed in disgust intertwined with a little bit of fear and sorrow. Luckily it happened before the ride took off. He waited until she finished, albeit temporarily, before he hurried to get them out of the seat before the ride started. They darted off as he took her to a secluded part of the fair where she continued to throw up.

"I'm so sorry Troy," she said in between vomiting and coughing. "that we ruined our date." He winced even more and felt sorry for her and how she felt so bad.

"It's not your fault, we shouldn't have eaten that much. I just thought a slow ride would kind of put us at ease, you know?" Gabriella threw up even more. "I guess not." He said to himself as he rubbed her back soothingly. Once she was done for sure, he took her home even though they had about an hour to spare. They stopped at a nearby convience store to get her some ginger ale and some non-salted crackers in case she heaved again. Thankful that she didn't, they pulled up into her driveway and he walked her inside making sure that she was fine. By this time, her mother and sister were already asleep. Gabriella was happy that she wouldn't have to explain why she was home so early.

"Thank you Troy." She said sleepily. "I had an amazing time, besides the me-throwing-up-all-over-place part."

"It's fine. It happens to the best of us. I'm glad you had a good time, because I did too. I guess this is goodnight, huh?" Troy asked, not wanting to leave.

"I guess it is. Can you excuse me while I, you know, brush my teeth? The aftertaste isn't that pleasant. You can leave, if you want."

"You can't get rid of me that easily. I'm not leaving until I know you're okay." He smiled, as she returned his smile with a weak one of her own, before going upstairs to brush--no scrub--her teeth clean. After five or six minutes, she came back to the top of the stairs and looking down see Troy sitting on the couch, half-asleep. She tiptoed quietly, not wanting to wake him. As she got to the last few stairs, one of them made a creaking noise when she stepped on it, jolting him awake.

"Chad did it, I swear!" He yelled, not knowing his outburst could have disturbed her mother and sister. She tried to stifle a giggle, but to no avail when he turned around to see her at the foot of the stairs with a blanket wrapped around her loosely. "Sorry about that." He said standing, scratching the back of his neck. "It's kind of a habit to say." She giggled even more at the latter comment. She walked over to him, giving him a quick hug as she whispered to him.

"Thank you so much for tonight. I really, _really _enjoyed myself." She said, letting go of him. He released his arms from behind her and trailed them to her shoulders where the blanket was positioned, and brought it around her, wrapping it snugly around her petite body. Their eyes soon met when he did this.

"I guess I should be going now, since you're feeling better and all." He said, not letting go of where he gathered the blanket.

"Y-yeah, maybe you should." She replied, not daring to break their gaze. They became silent for a moment before Troy leaned in to press a goodnight kiss to her forehead, then to the tip of her nose. He looked at her for permission when he saw her lips quiver slightly. She braced herself, putting her hands on his shoulders as she leaned up on her toes to give him a goodnight peck. They got closer and closer to each other until she threw her hands off of him to cover her mouth.

And it happened, once more. Only this time, all over their carpet, getting some on Troy's shoes. He jumped back and threw his hands up as she continued hacking up her dinner from that night.

She may not have had to explain why she was home so early, but she would have to explain why their cream colored carpet had a huge reddish-yellow stain in it.

_End Flashback_

Troy sighed once more to himself, coming back down to earth as he finished recollecting his memories. He wasn't sorry that they had such a great time, or that she even threw up on his favorite pair of beat-up Converse. All that mattered was that he got to be with her, even if it was under the most weird circumstances. He picked his phone up once more and scrolled through his contacts, and his heart raced as he got to her name. He clicked the 'view' button on his screen as the information expanded. All of a sudden, Chad didn't matter, the magazines didn't matter, not even the best answer on Yahoo! mattered. He wasn't going to let a good opportunity pass him by. Not realizing what time it was, he pressed the green phone button on his phone and called her.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

Troy was close to hanging up, when he heard her angelic, yet groggy and somewhat irritated voice answer.

"Troy?"

"Uh, yeah, it's Troy." He said, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry to be calling you so late, but I couldn't sleep. I had a lot on my mind." He said, hoping that she would get the hint.

"Don't worry. I don't mind, because I couldn't sleep much either." She replied sweetly.

He let out a sigh of relief as they continued their less-than-awkward conversation which included her apologizing for throwing up all over his shoes, him responding by telling her he was going to throw them out anyway, and much more. They kept talking until he finally hung up in the wee hours of the night, hearing her soft snoring as a sign. He knew he was going to regret it, and the end result was going to be him falling asleep in Darbus' homeroom (not like that was much different from any other day). He wouldn't mind falling asleep in her class that following day, because he knew what would be waiting for him in his dreams.

_...Called her for the first time yesterday  
Finally found the missing part of me  
Felt so close, but you were so far away  
Left me without anything to say...

* * *

_

The next day, Troy walked into East High's doors the next day, feeling more confident in himself since he got some closure when he called her last night. He had a smile plastered across his face the entire day, just waiting for Gabriella to come and talk to him. He caught occasional glances and smiles from her in his classes, passing in the hallways and at lunch. He was amused by Taylor's curious expression and her questions as to why she was incredibly happy that day. When the end of the day neared, she finally caught up to him at his locker. He closed his locker shut to find Gabriella's beaming smile staring him in the face.

"Hey there, Wildcat." Gabriella said, greeting him. He laughed at his new nickname.

"You seem pretty happy today. What's the occasion?"

"There's no occasion.'She said as her sweet smile turned into one more mischievous and seductive. "I just forgot to do something that I should have done a _long _time ago." Troy felt a slight tugging in his lower regions when he found his back colliding with the red and white lockers behind him. She braced her hands on his shoulders as she looked him square in the eyes, not once breaking contact. She leaned up on her tiptoes, closing the gap between them, and placed a sweet, yet firm kiss on his lips. He remained stationary for a moment until he relaxed as a surge of blissful warmth coursed through his veins. He felt her fingers lock on the back of his neck as he took her by the empty belt loops and pulled her closer and she smiled into the kiss. He added a little bit of pressure that she returned as her lips moved in time with his. He pulled back to watch her post-kiss glow, her eyes still closed and her lips slightly parted and pursed upwards. She opened her eyes slowly to meet with his.

"Was that okay?" He asked, searching her eyes for approval.

"That," she said with a deep breath. "was _much _more than okay." She smiled up at him and giggled before speaking once more. "Let's do it again." Troy laughed as they leaned in and pressed their lips together once more, this time with more devotion and passion. He pulled her closer to him and her and cupped his cheek as the other hand worked on the back of his hand running her fingers through his locks. They ignored the wolf whistles and comments of "he/she's so lucky" or "about time" coming courtesy of the student body behind them until a familiar voice stopped them and broke them apart.

"There are other places for you to suck each other's faces off besides our sacred hallways, you know." Gabriella turned around to see Chad standing by a very annoyed, yet proud Taylor with a menacing look on her face towards Chad. She smacked him on the back of the head as he winced in pain and rubbed the spot. She took his hand and dragged him back down the hallways with her. Gabriella let out a small giggle when she found Troy's arm tugging her close to him and she braced her hands on his chest. She ran her fingers through his hair and gazed up at him with a curious expression.

"So.. what does this make us now?"

"I can show you better than I can tell you, don't you think?" She said, her voice barely above a whisper. With no more words to be said and after what seemed like forever, their lips met once more in the most passionate and insatiable of kisses. They were cut short again, but not by a person. It was because of a slight rumble in Gabriella's stomach.

"Are you about to--" Troy asked worriedly.

"No," Gabriella laughed nervously. "I'm just really really hungry." Troy smiled at her with a lustful grin on his lips.

"That's good, because so am I."

And then it happened once more. She grabbed him by the collar and instantly reconnected their lips, getting lost in a world only meant for lovers.

_...Kissed her for the first time yesterday  
Everything I wish that it would be  
Suddenly, I forgot how to speak  
Hopeless, Breathless, Baby can't you..see_

**Well there's my first one! I hope you liked, it took me a long time (mainly because I kept getting distracted haha) I hope I didn't gross you out with that end part about her stomach growling ahah  
**

**I tag: A Dirty Little Secret, they reviewed my story and they're an extremely nice and talented author.**


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